


kissing the devil

by taeyeons



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 02:24:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11934348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeyeons/pseuds/taeyeons
Summary: A cry rings in his ears and all Baekhyun's struck by is the familiarity.





	kissing the devil

**Author's Note:**

> finALLY!! thank you mods for being the most patient of course. to op, this may be a little disappointing, I apologise! I did try my best, I just really wanted to write demon!baek and I sucked at it. also, i tried my best to keep religion out of this narrative. nonetheless, enjoy! c:

It's another night of sins.

 

The scent of menace, danger and another bad mistake lingers in the air, Baekhyun drinks it all in. On every street corner, he is greeted by a trio of drunkards swaying to the tune of the breeze. It's the beginning of summer, the beginning of freedom for many youths, it's the beginning of many risk-takers being born. Baekhyun lives in the moment, smirking at the sights, knowing well that they can't see him.

 

He's well blended into the dark of the night, he can feel the contact lens he's wearing for the disguise are slowly dissipating but he's sure no one would take a second glance when his luminous blue eyes pierce through the darkness.

 

Because, drunkards. And their forgetful memories.

 

Baekhyun has done his damage for the full moon night; whispering sweet nothings into people's ears, watching them fall slowly into his trap, chucking them aside when he has fed on the light within their souls. Everyone always have their guards down, and it's not like they can withstand a chance with the charm he exudes in this form.

 

He checks his watch, it's merely three in the morning. Baekhyun's skipping through the towns, drifting through the clouds silently to settle near the woods. When the hand edges towards five, he knows his time's up, the fun is over.

 

Baekhyun lingers around the streets, pushing past the emptiness and dead street lights. Everything seems stationary at the moment, just blinking traffic lights to know life is passing by and Baekhyun's not part of it. Not that he wants any part of it, he has long given up on yearning for such useless dreams. He's a soul-sucking demon, though his form is very humane and he tends to forget sometimes.

 

His ears pick up on something in the distance, his eyes brighten. Something akin to blood flood his senses, the scent never seemed more inviting before and curiosity seizes him, maybe a bit of hunger. There's death nearby and Baekhyun wants to lap up on the last of it.

 

Baekhyun's feet picks up wind and he's within close proximity in seconds, the metallic scent of blood stronger than before. There's a gush of wind, dust spiralling over the area, his eyes zero in, through the blur.

 

And he sees a crumpled man on the floor, blood on his back, his hands, running down his temples. In the middle of a children's playground.

 

Baekhyun approaches tentatively, his steps pick up wind, the swing moves back and forth aimlessly in the background.

 

There are two slits in the man's back, gruesome and huge, blood gushing out in streams down his smooth skin. Bits and pieces of feathers, stark black in comparison to the midnight sky, wings is all Baekhyun can name them. They crumple around the man and when Baekhyun's closer, he sees the tainted blood stains on them, absorbing into the darkness of it all.

 

Baekhyun's entranced somehow, drawing closer to the stranger. He is struck by the overwhelming urge to caress the wings, to soothe the pain. Unaware, the grandeur of his humane form slips away slowly, Baekhyun's teeth sink out past his bottom lip, his pinky has now grown into a claw. His teeth ache to take a bite, his tongue swirls over his bottom lip, wetting it.

 

A movement. Baekhyun tenses in his advance, pausing right before the body. The man struggles to rise from the ground, Baekhyun seizes control of the grandeur and quickly slips into the humane form earlier. Baekhyun watches the way the man sinks his hands into the soil of the earth. Suddenly, his head is thrown back, and Baekhyun catches a glimpse of a cry, eyes closed, lips parted in blaring pain. The cry pierces into his ears, wrecking the eardrums.

 

 _Odd,_ Baekhyun thinks as his knees fall to the earthy ground. It is suddenly burning, Baekhyun feels the sting of the fire. _He's missing a soul._

 

 

 

 

 

“Is that a human being on your bed or is it a body bag?”

 

Baekhyun feels the weight of something or _someone_ sitting on his stretched out legs. He moans, tries to roll over but the weight is unwavering, heavy and plain annoying. He cracks an eye open to see Minseok staring down at him with an eyebrow raised expectantly. Baekhyun groans, wiggling his legs but Minseok is adamant and stubborn and Baekhyun hates him for disturbing the one minute of peace he had.

 

“Good morning to you too, shithead.” Baekhyun attempts to sit up and at this, Minseok actually budges, moving away after seeing that his damage is done. Baekhyun opts for ignoring the question and firing back at the devil-eared man with one of his, “Must you always wake me up by annoying the hell out of me? Pun intended.”

 

Minseok rolls his eyes, Baekhyun knows that it's because of his fantastic take on hell jokes. His eyes glow redder as the sunlight directly shines through the windows, casting over them. There's the familiar burn on Baekhyun's skin yet he's so used to it in the past year that it becomes welcoming, it feels odd to not walk around with that burning sensation prickling underneath his inhumane skin.

 

“It's not like you were sleeping anyway,” Minseok points out. Baekhyun huffs out in frustration. He leans in further, poking at Baekhyun's cheeks, “Answer my question. Who is that? Another one of your victims?”

 

Baekhyun ignores the demanding tone laced in Minseok's voice. Shrugging it off, he avoids Minseok's scrutinising gaze, “Depends on how you define victims because to me, it's a 'good lay'.”

 

“So that's a one night stand? Another human being?”

 

Baekhyun turns around, giving Minseok a dashing smile and watching his features contort into a disgusted expression. Opting for a lie instead, he lies through his teeth and chuckles, “Of course.”

 

Just because he doesn't know the truth. _Yet._

 

The disgust on Minseok's face is clear as day and it's not the first time Baekhyun has been the recipient of such a look. He has been getting it a lot lately, not that he minds, he never minds anything Minseok says because he barely means any of the insults he directs at him. Though, Baekhyun does pity him a bit because he's stuck with Baekhyun in this world, stuck with the job of mentoring him through his stubborn nature.

 

“I don't know what to do with you.” It's weird to see Minseok rub his temples with his fully grown out claws. The exasperation is loud in Minseok's voice, Baekhyun shrugs again.

 

Baekhyun's gaze zooms into the dried blood clouding his inner nails and wonders about Minseok's whereabouts in the night but he knows better than to poke at the topic. He has tried numerous times but Minseok never budges. He's like a steel wall and Baekhyun keeps punching and ultimately, ends up with a bloody fist.

 

Minseok points a clawed finger at Baekhyun, the tip of it barely digging into his skin. If he moves, he might draw blood, Baekhyun really doesn't care. “Behave yourself, I have to leave for a while,” Minseok warns him.

 

“What for?” Tilting his head, Baekhyun questions him.

 

He becomes close-lipped and averts his gaze, that's when Baekhyun remembers he isn't allowed to know of any business underneath. Why would he be? He has lost the right and here is the reminder blaring back in his face in how Minseok acts.

 

“Just don't set the world on fire.” Baekhyun cackles at that, Minseok sends a brief death glare. “And enough of fucking around.”

 

Baekhyun barely parts his lips for a response. Minseok is already not listening anymore, he turns around and draws the a circle – the pentagram on the wall. The wind blows in and the circle slowly ebbs away into nothingness, showing a sucking black hole underneath. Baekhyun itches to come closer, to fall through that portal, to be carried through the nothingness into the underworld.

 

Instead, Baekhyun watches on the sidelines as Minseok steps into it, transforming mid-step into the full grown demonic creature he is, without a single glance backwards. Baekhyun's skin tingles, the breeze is chilly. The portal immediately sucks him in and shuts closed. The hissing in his ears have subsided after Minseok left and the wind is gone. Baekhyun is left with the sunburn on his skin and the stranger in his bed.

 

 _Speaking of..._ Baekhyun inches towards his bedroom and stops in his tracks, at the foot of the entrance. The stranger – the boy is standing in front of the full-length mirror stand by his desk, carefully examining the two slits in his back. Baekhyun walks closer, feeling the same way he had in the playground, entranced by the man with the broken wings.

 

He might have sensed Baekhyun's advance because he is suddenly tensing, swivelling around on the spot to meet Baekhyun's fixed gaze on him. The intensity of his eyes washes over Baekhyun in burning heat, hotter than the sun in the afternoon.

 

“Who are you?” his voice is low, not intentionally, Baekhyun notices. It's naturally raspy with a tinge of curiosity, Baekhyun had expected demanding, threatening (he would have known how to deal with that better) but not the blatant, innocent curiosity in his eyes looking over him.

 

“Tell me who you are first,” Baekhyun challenges the man. He proceeds to sit on the corner of the bed, eyebrow raised, expecting his response. “You're the one standing under my roof anyway.”

 

Whilst awake, Baekhyun starts to notice the features of the man's face, clean from the blood and dirt. There is a light stubble running down his jaw, a prominent cupid's bow, lips full and pink. He looks the textbook definition of an angel and Baekhyun is strangely drawn into it. His eyes are wide, hardened at the edges.

 

A crease forms between the man's eyebrows, his lips pursed. “I don't know... if it's safe to say.”

 

Baekhyun leans back on his elbows, “What makes you say that?”

 

“I – ” the man breaks off mid-sentence, sniffing the air in an obvious manner. His face turns disgusted, Baekhyun doesn't know how he manages to be the recipient of these looks in a day, and stares right at Baekhyun. “What's that stench?” he almost chokes on his words.

 

Baekhyun pretends to sniff the air too but he _knows_ the scent of a demon. Minseok has cracked his eardrums over and over for masking it, lecturing him on the importance of disguise but Baekhyun's a lazy creature of hell. Let the stink consume angels, whatever. He shrugs, playing it off, “I don't know. Maybe it's you? You did get bruised real tough last night.”

 

“No...” the man trails off, walking over to smell the pot of flowers by the window. Shaking his head, determining that it isn't it. He steps dangerously close to Baekhyun and he feels the loud intake of the man's breath right on his skin. From the sound of a hiss in the man's low voice, Baekhyun knows he's pretty much busted, he can hear Minseok's droning voice in the background.

 

“It's you, demon,” the man hisses, his eyes narrowed in slits. It sounds like an insult, almost.

 

Baekhyun mocks a hurt gasp, the breath falls directly on the man's cupid's bow, “How dare you!” At the lack of amusement on the man's face, he laughs, “You act like you're so pristine and clean, dirty little _fallen._ ”

 

The man narrows his eyes further but Baekhyun sees the bit of surprise in his eyes before it's gone in a blink, “You know nothing.”

 

Humming, Baekhyun answers, “Yeah but I do. I know you've fallen and you are pretty much scum to the heavens.”

 

The man leans closer, their noses bump. _He has guts,_ Baekhyun thinks as he's forced to stare at him head on. A heavy weight settles in his stomach, stirring, but Baekhyun doesn't let it show, he doesn't back down.

 

“Like I said, you know nothing.”

 

Baekhyun feels the trickle of annoyance running down his spine, he shoves the man off, his hands meeting his bare chest. Barely registering the hard muscles underneath, he hisses through his teeth, his eyes reddening, “I'm giving you the comfort of staying under my roof so be nice, little fallen.”

 

Baekhyun figures the mention of little gets on the man's nerves as his eyes harden at the word, teeth gritted. He crosses his arms, looking over at Baekhyun with his chin up high. This is why Baekhyun can't stand angels and their pride.

 

“No one asks you to.”

 

“Yes, that may be true.” Baekhyun smiles at the man, getting up from his own bed. He struts over to the door, looking behind his shoulder at the man in his rage and adamant pride. “I just want to make your life a _living hell._ And you can't refuse because you need my help.”

 

Baekhyun walks out without hearing his response because he knows he's right. He knows the vulnerable and the weak when he sees it, he knows how to feed on their hopelessness. That's exactly what runs through the man's veins, cutting off his wings, throwing him over the clouds, onto the cursed ground.

 

 

 

 

 

There is static silence in the air, the portal simmers shut behind Minseok's back. He's in his grandeur which makes Baekhyun wonder if he shape-shifted halfway. Minseok didn't waste any time, immediately turning onto Baekhyun and pouncing on the questions already, “Did you find out what he is?”

 

Baekhyun cannot ignore Minseok, he whispers out, “Yeah.”

 

A beat, a pause, an obvious silent prompt on Minseok's end. He chokes it out anyway, “He's a fallen.”

 

Baekhyun knows that Minseok exactly knows what he's referring to, but the elder asks again, for extra reassurance, “What do you mean?”

 

“A fallen angel.”

 

Once again, the silence falls through the air and it feels heavier, the tension thick and suffocating. Baekhyun closes his eyes and waits for the blow because it will come in full force of strong disbelief and disappointment.

 

“You're...” Minseok scrunches his nose, squinting his eyes at Baekhyun, darting his gaze between him and his bedroom. “You're keeping him in there?! You're letting a fallen angel stay here?!”

 

On every syllable Minseok pronounces, his tone lifts higher and higher in disbelief. It drops down to disappointment, just like Baekhyun has predicted. He merely sighs out, he's frankly too exhausted for the upcoming lectures Minseok's going to put him through, all the mentoring that he's being paid to do.

 

“I'm not doing anything, he's just coexisting in the same space.” Baekhyun vaguely answers. Then, as an afterthought, “Maybe I should ask him to pay half of the rent.”

 

Predictably (maybe Baekhyun should be paid for these predictions), Minseok sighs and his voice is strained, tight. “This is not how you should win your father's permission to enter hell again.”

 

 _There he goes,_ Baekhyun thinks mid-lecture, _bringing up my daddy issues._ Minseok drones on, his voice underlying with exhaustion most likely from the business he had in the underworld. Baekhyun barely listens, it's the same words repeating over and over again. The same script being said out loud so Baekhyun doesn't bother.

 

He can't even deny that Minseok's wrong. He has become too comfortable in the humane world. He's become daring and careless and he doesn't even recall what hell looks like anymore.

 

Baekhyun may have been losing himself slightly these past few months but the human world is so fascinating. There's so many deadly sins disguised as guilty pleasures that are so accessible to him. He likes to take a dip every once in a while, (maybe more than he should in all honesty) and have a taste of what humans have been feeding off.

 

It _may_ have gotten overboard, Baekhyun admits but he will never to Minseok's face because he cannot stand the smug expression Minseok will wear when he voices it out. So, he'll settle for keeping this within.

 

The last straw, it seems to Minseok, is keeping a fallen angel in his very own apartment.

 

“Oh, don't worry,” Baekhyun brushes all of Minseok's words off his shoulder. “I can handle the little fallen angel myself.”

 

“I hope you do because I won't clean up your mess this time,” Minseok sternly says but it hardly pins a tint of fear in Baekhyun.

 

Because he's not afraid, he's merely curious (and insane).

 

“Why not?” Baekhyun whines jokingly, it still makes Minseok’s eyes harden in annoyance and his lips thin with barely any patience left. “Weren’t you sent here to do just _that_?”

 

Baekhyun foresees the hand, moving too quick to the other end of the room before it lands on his skin. Minseok looks up, a menacing expression on his features, his index finger and thumb in a pinched position, ready to harm. Baekhyun chuckles out too loudly and it tenses Minseok’s features in further annoyance.

 

“One day, it’ll be more than just a pinch,” Minseok mutters lowly under his breath, Baekhyun hears it all the same and laughs gleefully. “Anyway, they have a job for me. I’ll be gone for a while.”

 

The news of Minseok’s departure float over Baekhyun’s head, it dawns upon him, the absence by his side. Baekhyun pretends to smile, maybe it’s a grimace. He chuckles once more, though it sounds pained in his ears, “For?”

 

“I can’t tell you that,” Minseok averts his gaze. Baekhyun hates it. “But like I said, it might be for a while.”

 

The bitterness seeps into his voice, Baekhyun can’t help it, can’t help himself. “Why don’t you tell me about what’s going on? Tell me about the underworld, my father, anything!” He almost shouts it out in frustration, having it piled up in a bottle. “So I would…” _want to go back again,_ he doesn’t finish the sentence, but it’s implied.

 

Shock writes itself across Minseok’s gaze and his eyes are widened, alarmed by Baekhyun’s sudden outburst. He figures that he has whined enough about staying in the human world, about the banishment, though never about the unfairness because perhaps, he does deserve a bit of punishment but not this long and exhausting.

 

Minseok’s jaw tightens, “I can’t tell you anything.” He says it so firmly, Baekhyun wants to dash right across the room to hold him up in a strangle for being able to do his job properly. It’s sickening, he’s being cast away.

 

 _Whatever_ , Baekhyun ignores and struts off to the kitchen with his chin raised high like the adamant demon he’s born to be. He doesn’t care, he doesn’t want to anymore. When he returns to the living room, he senses the emptiness at the foot of it, and it’s confirmed by the eerie space, the silence. Baekhyun throws a glance over his shoulder at his bedroom, where _he_ sleeps, and wonders if the fallen has heard anything.

 

(He probably did. Baekhyun merely wishes he doesn’t say a single thing about it.)

 

 

 

 

 

The stones were dipped in the hottest fire of hell.

 

It trickled down Baekhyun's back, his skin was painted the brightest shade of red, the muscles in his back clenched in pain but his lips never once parted, not even a single cry. He refused to surrender to it. He was raised and borne in hell, the fire was supposed to be secondary to the heat running in his veins.

 

Even if Baekhyun did scream out in pain, he wouldn't hear himself over the booming, chilling voice of his father.

 

The whip made contact with his back, adding onto the red streaks of lines running down his skin. Baekhyun clenched his fists, shut his eyes closed. A single bead of perspiration ran down, the salt rubbing over his sensitive, crimson wounds. He let out a shudder instinctively.

 

A ringing blocked out everything else in his ears and Baekhyun rocked back and forth. It didn't occur to him that his ears were deafened by the impact of hellfire.

 

Yet his father's voice seeped through, weighing his body down further.

 

_Disgrace, disgrace, disgrace. Son of hell._

 

It wakes him up in the morning, prickles at the back of his head through the days of banishment. Baekhyun misses the hellfire but only sometimes. He misses the thrill of being a demon, the power of it all. In here, he’s stripped to almost nothing and maybe that’s why he is a little vulnerable to the humanity.

 

But does Baekhyun want to come back?

 

_I banish you, Byun Baekhyun, flesh of my flesh, born and raised in Hell, to the human world._

 

The disgust in his father’s eyes, blackened by the ashes he had burned, never looked more menacing. Baekhyun felt like a stranger, not of his blood.

 

 _Betrayer,_ the spit that hit his skin felt like a spark of electricity, burning a hole into his skin. Baekhyun didn’t dare to flinch. _You’ve disgraced your own blood, tainted it._

 

No, perhaps not, it isn’t like Baekhyun stood a chance at returning to his home after a year and a half.

 

Not when he had done the unthinkable.

 

_With the blood of an angel._

 

 

 

 

 

The clock ticks, rings at the midnight hour and then subsides to the regular humming as seconds pass by. It’s dark enough outside for Baekhyun to not care about being clothed at all. Plus, it’s humid. Even the summer heat does not spare the chill of the night, seeping its humidity into the night sky, leaving people bare on their beds, blankets strewn on the floor. Baekhyun, on the other hand, is used to living in a bed of flames so the heat does nothing much to him except stick the fabric of his clothes to his skin. It irritates him thus, he’s going commando.

 

Baekhyun lurks around the apartment, stomach grumbling because he hasn’t fed on any human being for two days straight. He settles for human food – instant noodles and was about to make some when a movement by the kitchen sink makes him pause in his tracks. Narrowing his eyes, he makes out a figure, dark, messy hair and two scars in the back of the stranger.

 

Grinning, Baekhyun walks over, a hand out to clap onto the fallen angel’s shoulder. “It’s not enough you’re hoarding my space but now you’re stealing f–” his jesting remark gets cut off as his fingers brush against the scars of the used-to-be wings on his back.

 

Baekhyun feels a strange sensation filling him from head to toe, his head dizzying. He is rooted to the ground, to the scars marring the fallen angel’s skin, yet he feels afloat, drifting through the air in sparse darkness. The fear tangles loosely by his ankles and it never succeeds at seizing him wholly, he’s the son of hell. Baekhyun drifts towards the light, curious and bewildered by the strangeness of it all.

 

A whisper tickles his nape, travelling to the shell of his ear and he _hears_ it loud and clear in the darkest of the night.

 

“ _Kyungsoo,_ ” Baekhyun repeats it and it sounds soft, a mere loud puff of air in the midnight. Something akin to familiarity strikes upon him. There is power in a name and he is filled with it. He opens his eyes to see a pair of widened eyes staring back at him in disbelief, a slight fear around the edges. His full lips part in surprise at mention of the name, of _his_ name.

 

“You’re Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun says it even more louder, surer of it. There’s not a nod from the latter, but not a shake of his head to deny it. Baekhyun stands on the line of truth, shaking from the revelation of it. “Do Kyungsoo, angel of the heavens, fallen.”

 

“You don’t have to recite it word by word,” the fallen angel – Kyungsoo manages to say, hoarse and low. An edge is unmistakable in his voice, akin to the pain hidden deep in Baekhyun's own voice a year ago. “Listening to it once was enough.”

 

His fingers are tingling, tinted slightly purplish as if bruised. He lifts his hand off Kyungsoo's back, stepping backwards at his irises hardening at the sight of Baekhyun's hand that somehow intruded his secrets. An overwhelming sense of curiosity fills Baekhyun and he wants to abuse those scars, brush his fingers over them repeatedly in soothing circles. The thoughts feel alien, foreign, yet utterly familiar and scary at the same time. Every single instinct in him screams “ _this is not the nature of who you truly are!”_ but who is Baekhyun to really determine that?

 

Instead, Baekhyun grins wide, shitless and shameless. Upon seeing this, Kyungsoo seethes, not a single quirk of his lips, “Satisfied?”

 

Reeling the tension of the situation a few seconds ago back into the past, Baekhyun laughs, loud and it makes Kyungsoo visibly wince. “Definitely, Kyungsoo. Or should I say 'Soo? Don't answer that, I'm calling you 'Soo.”

 

“You're a pain in the ass.”

 

“Ah!” Baekhyun waves a finger in Kyungsoo's face jokingly. “No foul language from an angel!”

 

“Like you have a right to judge, demon,” Kyungsoo spits in Baekhyun's face, but the smile doesn't waver from Baekhyun's lips, it stays. And it remains even after Kyungsoo circles around his feet, careful to not brush skin against him. It's a miracle that his eyes haven't drifted downwards to where _everything_ else is.

 

Baekhyun shrugs in plain solitary. A chill runs down his spine in both excitement and anticipation. There's secrets buried in those winged scars of Kyungsoo's and he is going to seek every single one of them out.

 

 

 

 

 

Living with Kyungsoo is, as Baekhyun promised the fallen angel, a living hell.

 

In a human body, Baekhyun lives as freely as he can; this includes walking around the apartment without clothes. It is not uncommon back in the underworld, it's been a habit all his existence, Baekhyun doesn't plan on stopping it just because nudity is taboo. In fact, his human body is pretty magnificent, he appreciates it.

 

Kyungsoo, however, barely bats an eyelash at it.

 

The fallen angel makes it difficult for Baekhyun to try to be close to him and he is known for clinging onto people.

 

Firstly, he barely leaves the room. Somehow, he has taken refuge in Baekhyun's former bedroom, refusing to leave even when Baekhyun asks nicely (and he almost never does). Kyungsoo stays coped up in the room all day, and only leaves during the night to snack on something for his very own human body (though Baekhyun is sure he isn't quite used to it yet).

 

Secondly, Kyungsoo never talks. Except for that one time, he did voice out about Baekhyun's nudity.

 

“ _Must you be this annoying?”_

 

“ _What do you mean?”_

 

“ _That,” Kyungsoo had pointed to Baekhyun's body, to the groin area. “Be decent for once.”_

 

_Baekhyun waggled his eyebrows at him, but all Kyungsoo did was roll his eyes in irritation and averted his gaze to the bowl of cereal which he stole from Baekhyun._

 

Besides that, all he says or actually, sneers at Baekhyun is about his demonic presence and the stinky scent it brings. Baekhyun's glad that he's causing these hindrances to Kyungsoo, he just wishes it provoked a stronger reaction out of the latter other than the usual stoic face he keeps. Sometimes Baekhyun wonders how is Kyungsoo like when he's purely an angel. Did he give smiles away as easily? Was he brighter than the light halo he has surrounding him now?

 

Lastly, Kyungsoo has been highly conscious of his back or more specifically, the two slits where his wings used to be. Every single time Baekhyun gets close enough, a light breath on his skin, Kyungsoo twitches, moves away from him as far as possible, piling the distance on between them with a warning glare at Baekhyun. All Baekhyun does is shrug in fake innocence as he eyes Kyungsoo curiously, his fingertips itching to meet bare skin.

 

Truthfully, of course, Baekhyun wants to dip into Kyungsoo's secrets, all of his existence deep within his scars. All it takes is a light touch to those scars and Baekhyun's set on a voyage to learning Kyungsoo inside out, but Kyungsoo, however, knows his tricks and sees past that friendly stance. Ever since Baekhyun's (fortunate) accident of touching Kyungsoo's scars and finding out his name through it, Kyungsoo has been hypersensitive, jumping back a few paces whenever Baekhyun's close to his vulnerable back.

 

It's amusing that Kyungsoo's Achilles' heel is the winged scars on his back, the very living proof of his fallen, crumpled wings, of what he used to be.

 

And it makes Baekhyun want to touch them even more.

 

Kyungsoo isn't easy, Baekhyun thinks, there's a shield, a wide barrier casting Baekhyun off his guard but that doesn't stop Baekhyun from trying harder. He's a demon for a reason, he latches his claws onto people and sucks them dry. This time, he merely wants to draw all the secrets out and see Kyungsoo bare in the open.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Kyungsoo instead, seeking Baekhyun out at his most vulnerable (or maybe that’s what he thought of him), at the beginning of darkness, eyes searching and watching in silence right before he goes in for the ki– approach. It's a turn of events, another one of Baekhyun's plans en route to getting closer to Kyungsoo.

 

“I was starting to wonder what you do on your late night endeavours,” his voice creeps onto Baekhyun, wrapping around him in a tight grip, cold in the night.

 

“I was starting to wonder when are you going to come along,” Baekhyun smirks, turning around to see Kyungsoo fully clothed in _his_ own clothes, though the leather jacket hangs a little looser on him, the sleeves too long for his arms. Baekhyun drinks in the sight of Kyungsoo with his full lips and dark irises, looking exactly like a sin he'd commit himself.

 

Maybe that's why Baekhyun's banished from hell.

 

They are situated at one of Baekhyun's favourite brothels to visit, the place is heavily scented with lust and every deadly sin. Baekhyun breathes it all in, simmering at the thought of a proper feed tonight. His eyes are sparkling, catching every glint of the light in the dimmed room. To further intensify his satisfaction, Kyungsoo had followed him all the way here, wearing  _his_ leather jacket, his shirt, his pants, all from head to toe in Baekhyun's own scent.

 

It's addicting. Baekhyun presses close to Kyungsoo, ignoring the flash of warning in his eyes, “Curious of what I do, aren't you?”

 

“What if I'm here to stop you?” Kyungsoo answers, barely flinching as their arms brush in contact. Baekhyun chuckles.

 

“You don't have to do that anymore, remember?” Baekhyun smiles, pinching Kyungsoo's cheeks. Kyungsoo practically seethes. “Little fallen angel,” Baekhyun whispers in the small space between them.

 

Kyungsoo parts his lips to say something but Baekhyun doesn't catch it, the music swallows him whole and the metallic scent of blood floods Baekhyun's senses. It almost trips him over, dizzying him, it has almost been a week since he had a taste of it, a taste of anything human to keep his power up. He stumbles back from Kyungsoo, turning around to immediately flee into the backdoor in an attempt to catch the source of the scent and  _suck._

 

He sees it. The human. The girl leaning against the wall by the backdoor, cradling her hand with a slight cut on the palm. She sighs out softly, the sound of pain escaping her in low winces. Baekhyun's teeth start to grow, his canines digging into the sensitive skin of his lips. His eyes are likely bloodlust red, he has gone past the thought of sanity to even care about masking anything. The girl will be dead before word can even get around. He steps forward, a hand creeping up her shoulder, he's mere seconds from a full meal, a soul to add onto the others.

 

A hot flash of white blocks Baekhyun's sight and leaves him tumbling backwards. The element of surprise had Baekhyun knocked up against the wall, his head hitting the cemented wall. He groans out in pain but his hand reaches outwards to shove the intruder back with a force within him. Baekhyun practically growls, opening his eyes to see Kyungsoo kneeling on the ground, having just hit the floor from Baekhyun's defense attack.

 

Baekhyun hisses, swivelling around, finding that the girl is out of his sight,  _gone._ His eyes have turned black at this point and he advances onto Kyungsoo, kicks right into his chest and pushing weight onto his foot on his chest. Baekhyun glares down at Kyungsoo, at the blank expression he wears, the anger blares in Baekhyun's body at the lack of reaction.

 

He sighs out long and hard, “You. What the fuck were you trying to do?”

 

“I said I'm here to stop you. I wasn't kidding.”

 

Baekhyun twists his foot further into Kyungsoo's chest, takes pleasure in the sight of a second of pain in Kyungsoo's face.  _Finally._ “You don't have to be a goody two shoes, Kyungsoo. You've fallen, you're a living sin.”

 

Baekhyun doesn't foresee the attack, it hits him backwards right into the wall again. Baekhyun lets out a low hiss at the sound of a crack in his skull. The pain doesn't exactly come, maybe he's too numb at this point to even process it. Kyungsoo, now, stands right in front of him, up in his face with a heaviness in his forced breathing.

 

“Don't say that to me, demon,” Kyungsoo spits. “You have no right.”

 

Baekhyun elbows Kyungsoo out of the way, stepping out of his space. He narrows his eyes at the fallen angel, scoffing. “You have no right to tell me what to do, either.” He doesn't bother to stay to hear anything else coming out of Kyungsoo's mouth. He turns, walking back into the brothel, losing himself in the dark atmosphere, where he can easily fit in.

 

He doesn't wait to see if Kyungsoo follows but a voice tugs at him, telling him,  _follow me, follow me all the way._

 

Baekhyun walks to the bar and rings up a shot of vodka.It's hardly an alcoholic beverage to take him down, nothing really works on him. He's always painfully sober no matter what he intakes. Baekhyun chugs it down still, it burns all the way down his throat, filling with a certain warmth and that's what Baekhyun wants.

 

Baekhyun senses Kyungsoo's presence behind him, somewhere in the background of the rest of the brothel.  _There you are,_ Baekhyun presses the smile down and  tries hard to ignore Kyungsoo, turning to manage a smile at a girl who had been eyeing him ever since he walked in. 

 

Dragging his gaze over her legs up to her face, Baekhyun leans in to say hi, making the girl flush redder. Baekhyun's stomach drop, his throat drying at the idea of blood and feeding and he pushes it all down, leaning further into the girl. He takes a whiff of a flowery scent rubbed all over her body, Baekhyun almost gags on it. He doesn't breathe when he plants his lips on her, tilting his head for better measure. His eyes are wide open and he notices Kyungsoo watching right by the door.

 

Baekhyun smiles into the kiss, flutters his eyes shut and slides his tongue into her mouth. She tastes like whisky, her lips feel too dry with the matte gloss on and Baekhyun forces out a moan. He feels Kyungsoo's intense gaze on him thus he lifts a hand to lightly cup her cheeks, acting like he truly is enjoying. It might have encouraged the girl as her hand drifts upwards on his chest, he feels like a mannequin kissing.

 

Baekhyun breaks the kiss, pulls out a charming smile for the girl to see, she blushes in response. His gaze move past her shoulders to see the door swinging in the wind of a recent departure.

 

 

 

 

 

It happens a few times over the course of two weeks.

 

Baekhyun goes out on his spontaneous visits to the clubs, brothels, wherever the deadly sins are alive and thriving, you name it. Kyungsoo follows a few paces behind, scrutinising, watching, silent. It's become a routine, almost. He always wears Baekhyun's clothes and Baekhyun starts to feel a slight  _possession_ over him. He sees the stares the fallen angel gets though he is always unaware (or he is really good at not showing it), sometimes it lights afire in Baekhyun and he takes a step backwards from it all.

 

Insane, Minseok would call him, insane of him to even dare.

 

Unlike before, Kyungsoo barely makes a move. Baekhyun never bothers to do anything yet he feels the grumble of hunger in his stomach. He just likes running around in circles, likes having Kyungsoo's eyes drawn to him. It may be for his angel tendencies but no one says Baekhyun can't take advantage of that.

 

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun chuckles, it's loud in the quiet of the room. He can feel the shivers breaking out on the man’s skin as he draws nearer, the chills breezing through his fine hair. It's in the middle of July, the breeze comes and go. Baekhyun, however, stays.

 

He watches as the man lowers his hand, the phone shaking in his grip. There's the faint call of “Hello?” from the other end. Baekhyun glances at the screen, tilts his head, assessing it. The call drops. The man quivers in fear, Baekhyun frankly takes delight in it. The fear in human beings is fascinating, Baekhyun _loves_ witnessing it.

 

“Wh-who is there?” The man stutters out a question, his voice deeper than Baekhyun remembers.

 

Baekhyun hums, drumming his fingertips against his skin. The claws are scratchy, he doesn't feel a single pinch of pain.

 

“I have a lot of names,” Baekhyun simply says. He transforms and in a flash of a second, he appears right in front of the man. A scream resonates, bouncing off the four walls. Baekhyun grins wildly, “But you probably remember me as the man from the bar.”

 

“Y-you!” The stuttering continues and the man practically shakes, the chills running down his spine. “What are you doing here? _What do you want from me?_ ”

 

Redness flushes the man’s cheeks and Baekhyun remembers him ten years ago. Minseok had sent him a letter yesterday; _seek out the deal from ten years ago. Kim Junmyeon._ The letter had burnt to crisps in Baekhyun’s hands, the ashes of what used to be tainting his palms like dirt. At the mention of the name, he recalls a begging man, knees on the floor (they’re always kneeling), asking for success, praying for success. The desperation on his face mirrors the same he sees now. The same panicky gaze, though the beggar in him is more desperate right now with life and death at hand. Baekhyun thrills off the power it brings him.

 

The blazer is itchy, Baekhyun thinks. The itch is deep into the sleeve of the tailored blazer, he attempts to shut it off from his mind, choosing to focus on the job at hand. His grin widens, the fear in the man – Junmyeon’s pupils grows.

 

Humans are truly so hypocritical, Baekhyun has observed from his years of being on the streets. His hand reaches out for the long column of Junmyeon’s neck, his hand returning to its original form, the claws tightening around his neck. Junmyeon chokes out a strangled sob, eyes watering as Baekhyun seizes him in a tight grip. There is nothing more satisfying than being powerful.

 

Baekhyun leans forward, his midnight eyes slowly dilating into a deep, rich red. He leans till he has a faint scent of tobacco lingering in his nostrils, he doesn't inhale. His lips part, hissing, then he feels the lightest gush of wind but it's enough. It passes by in a second and Baekhyun slumps forward, rolling his eyes.

 

“Kyungsoo, how many times have I told you that this is _none_ of your business?”

 

The light casts across the room and bathes the intruder–Kyungsoo in a warm glow. Shadow circles dance on his exposed skin, his face. The light cuts into his gaze. It burns Baekhyun’s eyes a bit but he has been out in this world enough to not be reduced to burnt ashes whilst being in the sun for long. Baekhyun’s grin falls a little at the thought. He has been among the living for too long.

 

Baekhyun had been expecting this, _him_ to show up in all his glory as always, since he has been following Baekhyun around lately with the air of vigilance and curiosity. Habits, Baekhyun guesses, from his angel days that he can’t break out of. It is truly fascinating to see Kyungsoo still try. He wears Baekhyun's clothes again, still unable to find any of his own from the weeks he had been out in the human world. Baekhyun stares, the flame in his stomach lighting afire.

 

“It is still my business,” Kyungsoo drawls in a low voice. His eyes are sweeping over the room, looking disinterested but Baekhyun knows. “You running around, scaring humans and sucking them dry is my business.”

 

At the mention of those words, Junmyeon manages a choked cough, eyes watering at the asphyxiation. Baekhyun narrows his gaze at Kyungsoo as the latter stares back, unwavering. He tightens his fingers around Junmyeon’s neck, observing the way Kyungsoo’s eyes slowly drift to him and back, still unwavering.

 

“What are you doing?” Kyungsoo’s voice is even, thinned with little patience.

 

“Trying my luck,” is all Baekhyun says, a smile lining his lips before he wrenches the neck in his grip. Junmyeon lets out one last strangled cry before his eyes roll back and he falls, limbless against the ground. His head rolls to the side and there is no doubt that death has taken him away.

 

Kyungsoo jerks in the moment, his fists clenched at the sides. Baekhyun is too fast for him, he grits his teeth.

“What'd you do that for?” Kyungsoo growls in a demanding tone. _Finally,_ Baekhyun thinks, _some kind of sign of emotion._ He has pushed past the limit, Baekhyun's burning with victory.

 

“His time was due anyway,” Baekhyun shrugs, stepping over the body to inch closer to Kyungsoo. He ignores the way Kyungsoo avoids his advance. “He made a deal ten years ago. I'm just ensuring he keeps his end of it.”

 

“Or… _kept._ ” Baekhyun adds as an afterthought. “I'm not so sure about honouring the dead, I apologise.”

 

Kyungsoo’s gaze is still fixated on the corpse behind Baekhyun. The marbled floor remains spotless and bloodless. It doesn't really feel like someone has died in here, Baekhyun did the job too cleanly. He should have added a little drama, maybe one of those toys human beings carry around. A gun? Rifle? Baekhyun should have put on a show as he's at it. He's clearly lost his flair for these things. It has been a while since Minseok sent him out on these hunts. Maybe he stopped for a bit after the last one because Baekhyun had dragged the corpse around the house, leaving a bloody trail for those human authorities – police to boggle their minds over.

 

Kyungsoo obviously doesn't have the same thoughts, drawing near the dead body, his fingertips lightly brushing the bruise on the neck. It's a deep shade of burgundy, even Baekhyun is impressed. Then, Kyungsoo lifts his hands to shut the man’s eyes.

 

“Jeez, stop mourning the dead,” Baekhyun rolls his eyes again, with more dramatic effect. “You are not entitled to them anymore.”

 

“What if I want to be?” Kyungsoo shoots back and Baekhyun is sort of surprised but he wouldn't expect any other kind of response.

 

“Um…” Baekhyun struts around Kyungsoo, fingers dusting little prints on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. He leans in and his thumb gently brushes against the scar marring Kyungsoo’s nape, where his wings are supposed to be. Baekhyun recalls the night he had seen Kyungsoo’s back, has the image of the scars running down his blades and spine fixed in his mind. Baekhyun imagines it past the stark black Kyungsoo is donning and a grin forms. Kyungsoo hisses at the touch. In pain or out of warning. Either way, Baekhyun remains.

 

“I don't know how to tell you this, Soo,” Baekhyun says softly into Kyungsoo’s ear. His breath ghosts over the shell of Kyungsoo’s ear. He breathes the truth, making a dent in Kyungsoo’s adamant denial, “But your wings are gone. You're no longer an angel.”

 

Tension lines itself in the way Kyungsoo’s shoulders are hunched up together, the way his lips are pursed to one side of his mouth, the way the crease between his eyebrows deepen further at Baekhyun’s words. Despite the fact that the man has fallen to the ground with his wings ebbing away into nothingness at his banishment, Baekhyun finds an attraction to the light halo surrounding Kyungsoo. It's iridescent, _familiar_ and Baekhyun doesn't mind committing the same sin twice.

 

Something else entirely overwhelms Baekhyun. He lifts a hand, hovering his palm over the corpse, and it vanishes without a single glance back at it. It's probably on its way to Minseok, leaving it all to him to handle. Baekhyun's mind is set on something else, someone else. His gaze drifts over Kyungsoo and the fallen angel lifts his head in response, almost sensing Baekhyun's eyes on him. His eyes are tired, the light fading around the soft edges, Baekhyun wants him to hold on to it.

 

Baekhyun leans in further, the scent of burnt ashes fills his nostrils. He doesn't breathe, doesn't really need it. Kyungsoo stays where he is as always, watching in silence. Baekhyun whispers, the ghost of his words hitting directly at Kyungsoo's prominent cupid's bow, "If you were still an angel... would it sting if I do this?"

 

Kyungsoo was unable to answer and even if he did, Baekhyun didn't hear it because he made a jump, a dive into the deepest oceans, sinking himself into the taste of Kyungsoo's plump lips.

 

Baekhyun nibbles lightly on Kyungsoo's bottom lip thus, making the latter react to the kiss, biting lavishly onto Baekhyun's upper lip. Baekhyun almost smiles but he tilts his head instead, intensifying the kiss further, pulling a moan out of Kyungsoo's throat. It sends tingles right to his toes, a warmth filling him wholly. It's addicting, Baekhyun chases after it, bruising Kyungsoo's lips more with kisses.

 

They break apart due to Kyungsoo stumbling back from Baekhyun's strong force. Baekhyun whines, eyes closed, and takes Kyungsoo into his arms again to plant another kiss on his lips which he's sure they are swollen, crimson red from the intensity. Kyungsoo chuckles into Baekhyun's parted lips right before he slips his tongue into Baekhyun's mouth, lightly licking against the roof of his mouth. Baekhyun moans in appreciation, presses closer to Kyungsoo if possible.

Baekhyun's hands wander, spread against Kyungsoo's chest, drumming along his shoulder blades. The leather scratches against his nails, Baekhyun groans. He reaches around Kyungsoo's neck, fitting against his nape lightly. Kyungsoo tenses slightly just as Baekhyun's fingers unintentionally brush against his scars for a split second. In that second, Baekhyun is rooted to Kyungsoo's skin, his fingers pressed against those scars, and he is falling into the pit darkness again.

 

“ _You've lain with it,”_ the voice circles around Baekhyun as he falls blindly into the black hole of Kyungsoo's secrets. A loud hiss, _“A demon.”_

 

Kyungsoo breaks the kiss again, this time, he detaches himself from Baekhyun's arms, moves himself a few paces back. Baekhyun opens his eyes and sees the mess he had made upon the fallen angel. His hair is mussed up all from the tugging of his persistent, itchy fingers, his lips are indeed bruised a deep shade of red from his own lips, his cheeks have a warm glow, though Baekhyun can't pinpoint why, his eyes are bright, shiny.

 

_A demon._

 

"You've proven your point enough, Baekhyun," Kyungsoo says, his voice a little hoarse than before. _I won,_ Baekhyun thinks idly, his fingers feel like they've been burnt by the touch of his scars. He keeps staring at Kyungsoo's lips and Kyungsoo's eyes keep darting to Baekhyun's lips as well.

 

_Lain with it._

 

Kyungsoo's face turns stoic, back to the default expression he always had on, Baekhyun feels the warmth fading away at the same time he leaves through the door as silently as he came. The feeling of his lips leaves a cold tingle on Baekhyun's lips. If anything, it was Baekhyun whom got stung. It takes a few seconds for Baekhyun to realise that it was the first time Kyungsoo had called him by his name.

 

In the wake of Kyungsoo's departure, in the wake of the kiss, the memory comes back full force to Baekhyun and he's knocked backwards by the revelation. The words ring in Baekhyun's ears and it makes sense, it all fucking makes sense now.

 

_Do Kyungsoo, a child of the heavens, an angel, has defiled the bloodline with a demon._

 

 

 

 

 

It was the darkest of days and the lightest of nights. Hell was burnt over twice and the heavens were overcast by pit darkness.

 

There's an angel, wings wider and larger than the physique, the brightest halo surrounding him blinding the rest in light envy. Kyungsoo marches on with the weight of his wings on his back like a reminder of what he stands for.

 

Then, there's a demon, raised and born in hell, his blood strings to his father, the king of hell himself sitting on the throne. Baekhyun runs with every deadly sin tightly intertwined in his veins, a reminder of what he is made to be.

 

And they kiss.

 

Demons and angels don't sit right with each other, there's immense pain to suffer if ever touched by the other., yet, _yet_ these two fit like a black and white puzzle. Their limbs intertwine perfectly under the disguise of a moon, the light doesn't burn the darkness out, the darkness doesn't overtake the light out. There's a perfect balance of chemistry, they've made the impossible _possible._

 

It's not lust, it's not loneliness. It's the purity of love.

 

 

 

 

 

Being around Kyungsoo hurts, because 1. Baekhyun can't stop staring at his lips, 2. the light around Kyungsoo burns more than natural light and 3. Baekhyun doesn't know what to think of the wave of memories he had seen through Kyungsoo's winged scars and the new set of emotions he's going through.

 

 _You know nothing,_ Kyungsoo used to say to him, was this it? Was this the truth?

 

Baekhyun's the one starting to feel a little strange around Kyungsoo. He has started to wear clothes in the apartment and it doesn't help to see his leather jacket draping over Kyungsoo every time he goes out with the knowledge of nothing underneath that tight leather. He's been staring at Kyungsoo's lips a lot too, wondering about the next time he's lucky. It takes everything in him to not follow his animal instincts, to not be reckless like he usually is, to not kiss Kyungsoo senseless again to feel warmth all over. Baekhyun resorts his time to pondering on everything, he thinks over the banishment, he thinks over Hell, he thinks about Kyungsoo.

 

The humane world has made Baekhyun a little human than he liked; developing odd romantic feelings, overthinking, and desiring love instead of another one night stand.

 

Baekhyun can't get it out of his head, it's a reminder when he sees Kyungsoo's face, the two cuts scarring his back. Kyungsoo looks like he hasn't aged a day, hasn't given it much thought whilst Baekhyun is rediscovering himself, the lies he was fed, the memories he had lost. The scars running along his back, holding both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun's secrets, holding the key to Baekhyun's banishment. He's been thinking so much over the words he had heard, the angel and the demon he had seen.

 

And Baekhyun might have a fair idea of whose love story it is and he feels a little afraid for the first time ever.

 

 

 

 

 

“You suck at hide and seek, demon.”

 

Baekhyun laughs, bright and clear for the evening sky. The swings move idly, his feet scrape the soiled ground, the heels of his feet dragging against the rough ground. Baekhyun doesn't mind it much, there's exhaustion knotted in every bone of his body.

 

He's tired of running so far away. He's ran to a few clubs, kissed a girl or two, woke up in different bedrooms. It had been the first time he woke up in a room that wasn't his and it was weirder to have longed for the apartment instead of his home seven layers beneath the ground. Now, he has resorted to the playground, the very same one where he found Kyungsoo bloody and burnt, banished from heaven, just like Baekhyun had been.

 

Baekhyun is poor at running away, even more so from Kyungsoo.

 

“I wasn't hiding, I was seeking you out,” Baekhyun answers. The intruder circles around the swings and leans against the pole. Kyungsoo stands in the same clothes Baekhyun sees him in all the time when he's running on the streets, pacing right behind Baekhyun. He sighs.

 

“Seeking me out?” Confusion deepens in between Kyungsoo's eyebrows as he questions Baekhyun.

 

Baekhyun hums, swings along to the tune of the breeze, “Yes, because I know you follow me everywhere I go.” _And I'm glad you do._

 

Kyungsoo doesn't say anything in answer, and he doesn't have to because Baekhyun knows it's true. He senses the fallen angel's presence in every corner he turns, blending into the background though he shines the brightest to Baekhyun. There's surprise on Kyungsoo's face, Baekhyun lets out a chuckle, another point for Baekhyun.

 

“You're the one who sucks at hiding,” Baekhyun points out with a raised eyebrow. He tries to not feel a single thing at the sight of the tiniest quirk of Kyungsoo's lips just as his insides scream in victory at another type of reaction.

 

Baekhyun has it all figured out.

 

He's staring right into the eyes of the very same angel who was the reason behind his banishment, the reason behind his rebellion against his own kind, the reason behind his rash decision to love as the son of the devil. It fills him from within, the intensity of who they had been, who they are, who they're going to be.

 

Kyungsoo settles down into the swing next to Baekhyun, picking up wind on his lazy swings. His voice is low, in quiet hesitation, “You weren't supposed to know.”

 

Baekhyun hears the implication in that; _why must you be so stubbornly curious?_ Baekhyun smiles, shaking his head in disbelief. Kyungsoo pretty much confirmed his fears, his desires, his hopes all in one sentence, though he doesn't know where it ends and where it begins. He lifts his eyes to meet Kyungsoo's and understands that it has never been purely curiosity in the beginning, or even a physical attraction. It runs deeper than that, he reads the past of their memories in those eyes and he _recalls_ what hell had been trying to make him forget.

 

“I deserved a right to that at least, don't you think?” Baekhyun asks rhetorically, his voice sounding a little more bitter than intended.

 

Along with the banishment, his memories were wiped clean from the day of his punishment. He only knew the reason behind it, but he had never gotten the opportunity to seek the reason why he risked his own blood, his own status in hell. Looking back now, Baekhyun would have understood that it was for him to start anew. Minseok probably wouldn't be expecting this, or maybe he knew. He can't read that elder demon's mind at all. And Baekhyun _remembers_ now, has pushed past the block in his mind, and he sees the gaze he had for Kyungsoo. He never thought he'd be capable of it again, but he is.

 

Demons and angels never sit right with each other yet Baekhyun feels every bit of right with this lucky one.

 

Baekhyun swivels around to face Kyungsoo, surprising the latter a little. He leans in to take Kyungsoo's hand in his lap, the fallen angel doesn't budge as he hoped. Baekhyun strokes at his fingers lightly, indulging in the softness of his skin, the memories of their sin burning bright in his mind at every touch.

 

“You're just as soft-hearted as I remember,” Kyungsoo whispers softly, the wind tunes it sweetly. Baekhyun's smile deepens, then drops slightly at the memory of his father saying the exact same thing.

 

“ _You're too soft-hearted, you're a demon, my son!” Baekhyun's father shakes his head in disgust at the sight of him cradling a dead dog's soul. “How are you meant to raise hell, Baekhyun?”_

 

“I like you,” Baekhyun confesses, it feels like a huge burden leaving his shoulders. He can barely care about anything else, he's banished forever. “You shouldn't try to push me away anymore.”

 

“It sucks that immortality is being stuck with you, Baekhyun,” at the sound of his name in Kyungsoo's low-toned voice, Baekhyun's smile grows wider.

 

The smile remains as Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, closing the distance with his lips softly brushing against Baekhyun's. There's a spark of electricity striking Baekhyun but he indulges himself fully in the taste of Kyungsoo, smiling further into the kiss. Their noses bump as Kyungsoo tilts his head, deepening the kiss as he lightly tugs on Baekhyun's bottom lip. Baekhyun moans blissfully into Kyungsoo's mouth, the fire sitting in the pit of his stomach intensifies.

 

_I've sought you out, Do Kyungsoo._

 

 

 

 

 

Minseok finds out, eventually. Faster than what Baekhyun had predicted, but no lesser of an elder demon.

 

He had just came back from whatever business he was running down in the underworld, a few days earlier than expected. Minseok is breathless, eyes dazed, he must have rushed into a portal as fast as he could without a single thought as he's still in his demon form. Ugly for Baekhyun's eyes but he doesn't say a thing because as Minseok's lips part, Baekhyun prepares himself for the upcoming lecture, the disappointment, the stern disapproval.

 

“You're going against your father?” Minseok's voice has a tone of disbelief, but it softens at the nod Baekhyun gives.

 

It's insane, he knows, to try his luck but the fates bind Kyungsoo and Baekhyun together, a whole lifetime of immortality. No matter where he goes, Kyungsoo follows, and no matter where Kyungsoo goes, Baekhyun comes along. In Baekhyun's defence, he has been going against his father for years, he isn't tied down to any responsibility in hell. He's his own free man (or demon, to be more specific), and Baekhyun chooses Kyungsoo. Again.

 

Minseok, however, sighs in defeat, almost. “This is exactly why I told you to get rid of him. Now I have to clean up your mess.”

 

That's how Baekhyun knows Minseok has given in, the exasperation in his sigh, the look of relief in his eyes. Baekhyun stares back in his own disbelief at how calm Minseok is and how fast he surrendered to another one of Baekhyun's crazy decisions. He must have been getting used to him. Baekhyun chuckles lightly, a reassurance for the elder. He gets it and pats Baekhyun on the back, his claws scratching against his skin. Baekhyun's too used to his own to comment on it.

 

“Your father will be furious.” It is a warning. Though, Baekhyun can't see what other damage could be done when he's confined to the earthly grounds, stripped of everything else.

 

Except for freedom, of course.

 

“He will get over it,” Baekhyun waves it away. He thinks of the light behind Kyungsoo's smile and it brings one upon his own face. “It's not like I'm dating an angel anyway.” Baekhyun winks at this, the sound of a slap hitting a forehead is resounding in the living room.

 

“You're crazy.”

 

That, Baekhyun will admit to but he doesn't say it loud, he merely laughs and reaches over to pinch at Minseok's nose, emitting a loud hiss from the elder. He thinks of hell as part of his past.

 

 

 

 

 

The playground is void of the living.

 

Blinded by a strange fascination, Baekhyun inches closer despite the fire, despite the blood. Instead of sinking his claws into the man's neck, he lightly touches the wings sprouting out of his back, his fingers brushing against the two bloody cuts in his back. Baekhyun is drawn into the dark like he has never known before, his feet lose ground and he hears something, _someone_ screaming.

 

A cry rings in his ears and all Baekhyun's struck by is the familiarity. It tugs on his being, itching his skin with the curiosity to know.

 

The screams get drowned out by a voice, like it is speaking right into his ear. The pads of Baekhyun's fingers are still pressed against the two slits.

 

“ _I love him. You can't stop us.”_

 


End file.
